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Hamlet Mood Essay

Act 1 of Shakespeare's Hamlet is an important act of the play because it sets the reader up with the mood of the play through conversations and events that happen. These moods set up are mysterious, mournful, and revengeful. With these moods set in place they will most likely determine the actions of Hamlet and other events that unfold throughout this tragedy. Right away in the first scene and a few others you can see that there is a going to be a mysterious mood with a few weird things happening in during the rest of the play. In the beginning of the first scene Marcellus says, "Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour, / With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch"(1,1,76-77). Marcellus is telling Horatio about the ghost that he and Barnardo have seen on a two occasions. They don't think that anyone will believe them so they bring Horatio along because if he sees it people will believe him because he is a scholar and he is respected. All three of the men tried to speak to the ghost but they are not successful, so a in Scene 4 they bring Hamlet along with them to see if he can talk to it because they said it looked like King Hamlet who had just been slain about two months ago. The ghost reveals that he is Hamlet's father and that Claudius killed him by being poisoned. This ghost and the scenes being set at night show that there are most likely going to be some mysterious events happening as the storyline unfolds. Hamlet did not know how his father died before he saw the ghost but nevertheless was upset that he died and what made him more upset is that his mother remarried Claudius, who was his uncle, no more that a month later. As shown in the second scene you can see that Hamlet is still very upset about his father's death even though it has been two months since he died. In conversation between Hamlet, his mother and Claudius his mother says to Hamlet, "Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off, / And let thine eye look...

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William Shakespeare’s prominent role in English literature is accountable to his ability to reflect and challenge matters substantial to humanity; provoking the reverberation of similar feelings in the human psyche. The revenge-tragedy Hamlet, being the most examined and decoded text of Shakespeare’s, implements several elements that contribute to strengthening the revenge plots by the characters of Hamlet and Laertes. The thematic concepts of mortality and verisimilitude are key principles in shaping Hamlet as a character motivated to take advantage of his toilsome relationships and problematic fellow characters, in order to carry out his revenge.
Mortality is a pivotal theme throughout Hamlet. Its role in revenge is immediately addressed in the presence of the ghost of Hamlet’s father, King Hamlet. The appearance of the ghost displayed inconsistency with the beliefs of the audiences of Elizabethan times as the concept of purgatory was against Protestantism, the commonly accepted religion in Elizabethan England. “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life/ Now wear his crown” is a biblical allusion to the snake from Adam and Eve to blatantly expose the blasphemous deeds of Claudius. The ghost urges Hamlet to avenge his death in order to “Let not the royal bed of Denmark be a couch for luxury and damned incest”, referring to Gertrude’s...

...Why does Hamlet not avenge his father’s murder immediately upon learning of the murder?
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet vows to avenge his father’s death, however, he procrastinates throughout the play and doesn’t seek revenge until the end, when Hamlet finally acts, and kills his father’s murderer. Hamlet is delayed in seeking revenge by a number of factors throughout the play. He needs to know if the ghost is telling the truth before he seeks revenge. He fears the horrors of purgatory warned by the ghost. He also needs to get himself together before seeking revenge, and he procrastinates through discovering that revenge is easier said than done.
Throughout the play, Hamlet is shown to be unstable. His mind is full of thought of talking to his dead father, discovering incest, murder, and past adultery that he can’t arrive at any logical resolution. He is unbalanced and cannot bring himself to act; he needs to get himself together first, before seeking revenge. Hamlet tells Horatio after he has been told about his father s murder, that he is going to put a play on to observe Claudius.
When his father’s ghost came to him and told him to avenge his murder, Hamlet was eager to take immediate action. However before seeking revenge he needs to know if the ghost is telling the truth about his murder. “May sweep to my revenge” (1.5.31). Hamlet...

...Megan Kelley
Hamlet Response Question
Raspet 1st period
October 19, 2012
Reality and Illusion: Can being too close to a situation cloud the difference between reality and illusion?
In the play Hamlet written by Shakespeare, he presents the “air of uncertainty” starting from the beginning. The central force of the entire play is based on Hamlet’s mind. He determines the direction of the conflict by his decisions regarding revenge and defining the initial outcome.
In the play, Hamlet strived to seek revenge so badly. His father, King Hamlet had just been murdered and by assumption from the ghost Hamlet believes it was his uncle Claudius. Anger built up inside Prince Hamlet that is soon began to take over. His need for revenge started to cloud his views on becoming King and also affected his relationship with Ophelia. Hamlet knew revenge wasn’t right but he wanted justice to be served.
Ophelia was simply falling in love with Hamlet but she was too close to the relationship to realize the truth. Hamlet seemed to be unsure of his feelings for Ophelia in the beginning of the book but once Gertrude got upset with Hamlet he began to rethink his views on their previous relationship. He let his illusions of revenge get in his head that he pushed Ophelia away.
Hamlet wanted to become King for all the wrong reasons....

...William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a play primarily about the protagonist’s struggle to discover absolute certainty within a world plunged into instability. While Hamlet is reflective of the ideologies and contextual values which were of integral importance within the Elizabethan period, his dramatic exploration of this struggle continues to resonate with contemporary audiences. Through the use of dramatic techniques, Shakespeare explores the moral ambiguity and uncertainty existing within the kingdom as a consequence of the disruption to the Elizabethan Chain of Being, utilising Hamlet’s contemplative character as a medium to illuminate the tension between Christian doctrine and the philosophy of Humanism that began to emerge during the Renaissance. Ultimately, it is Hamlet’s contemplative nature and the prevailing conflict between Pagan superstition and Renaissance scepticism that delays his revenge, creating a dramatic suspense that has continued to enthral audiences for centuries. Despite its Elizabethan origins, the play explores various existential concerns, evident through Hamlet’s intricate introspections on the complexities of life and death, reflecting timeless and enduring concerns equally relevant to the contemporary audience. Although considered a revenge tragedy, it is the protagonist’s failure to achieve revenge and restore order that binds the play in a unity of ambiguity and moral uncertainty.
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...HamletEssay
Texts have the amazing ability to present great and provocative ideas to society, Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1599-1601) broach on a multitude of issues. Through themes of the human condition, loyalty and appearances, Hamlet reveals an astonishing breadth of purpose; Shakespeare examines what it is to be human and the very nature of humanity. Hamlet has proven itself to have universal appeal and popularity. The impact that Hamlet has carries as much weight to the lives of Shakespeare’s Elizabethan audience as it does to today’s contemporary audience.
Hamlet is about the very nature of human existence. The exploration of the human condition contributes to the universal understanding towards Hamlet’s experiences of loss, regret and sadness even towards his death. The emotive language in, “O cursed spite…That ever I was born to set it right,” causes empathy as his circumstance forces him to be an active participant of revenge. “About some act…That has no relish of salvation in’t.” There is a religious allusion present as Hamlet bides his time even though he has Claudius at his mercy. Claudius is in prayer and killing a man in cold blooded murder while in prayer is damnable and Claudius would go to heaven. One key aspects of humanity throughout Hamlet is mortality. “Alas poor Yorick! I knew him Horatio…” The use of emotive language shows death...

...Hamlet is a valued text because it explores challenging ideas of love and rivalry.
Discuss this statement in the light of your understanding of William Shakespeare's Hamlet.
In your response, make detailed reference to the play.
Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most prominent and valued texts as it encompasses the universality of the human condition through the challenging ideas of love and rivalry. The universal ideas of love and rivalry are evident within contemporary society as aspects of human nature enabling the play to be valued in all contexts. Shakespeare presents a variation in the type of love from filial love to the romantic love between Ophelia and Hamlet, and the rivalry driven by vengence exerted from Hamlet and Laertes. Shakespeare adopted the Kydian Revenge Tragedy as a framework to convey the ideas of love and rivalry as the play explores these ideas through characters which reflect the Elizabethan society and the values and expectations of the period. The conflicts arising between ideas of love and rivalry directs the play towards tragedy as it is tainted by corruption, where those who are in contact with it suffer immense consequences – their lives.
The human idea of filial love and strong belief in duty fosters the underlying corruption throughout the play. In the opening scene, the play reveals Denmark is undermined by an unavoidable current of corruption “something is...

...The Deeper Meaning of Hamlet’s Revenge
Hamlet, by playwright William Shakespeare, revolves around the burden of revenge. It all started from the beginning with the murder of King Hamlet, Hamlet’s father. Hamlet finds out the killer had been his uncle, Claudius, and sets out to avenge his father’s death. Claudius, however, is now the king and he has also married the queen and possesses all of the things he once envied his brother for. Every action Hamlet makes is founded upon the thought of revenge and he makes this evident throughout the play, although it seems there may be a deeper meaning to Hamlet’s revenge than meets the eye. He portrays the straight forward reason of avenging his father’s death for his revenge; however he may just be concealing the deeper anger he has towards his uncle and his mother. Hamlet has felt this anger against Claudius since the beginning of the play, even before he discovered his uncle was his father’s murderer; and when Gertrude married Claudius a mere month after his father’s death, Hamlet was furious, not only because he thought it was incestuous but because she showed that her love for King Hamlet was not as strong as Hamlet though it had been and it hurt him.
One of the first scenes of revenge was the “play within the play,” also known as “The Mouse Trap;” Hamlet’s self written work of which he used as an experiment to...

...In representing intense human relationships in Hamlet, Shakespeare reflects human ‎characteristics and so makes his play more accessible to audiences across the ages. In ‎particular, Shakespeare explores familial relationships such as Hamlet’s strong love ‎and loyalty to his late father, which manifests itself first as grief, then as a desire for ‎revenge. Hamlet’s method of revenge is contrasted with Laertes’ in order to ‎communicate the value of contemplation of rash action and to demonstrate the often ‎blinding nature of revenge that leads to devastating events. These profound and ‎complex relationships between Hamlet and his father and Hamlet and Laertes, ‎captivates audiences through the drama they provoke, and thus gives Hamlet an ‎enduring quality.‎
The intensity of Hamlet’s relationship with his father is most prominently seen when ‎he encounters the ghost. His grief for his dead father, communicated through such ‎descriptive language as “How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable / Seem to me all the ‎uses of this world,” now fuels his anger at Claudius and his eagerness for revenge. He ‎says to the ghost “Haste me to know’t, that I with wings as swift / As meditation or ‎the thoughts of love / May sweep to my revenge.” Shakespeare uses words such as ‎‎‘haste’ and ‘swift’ to communicate Hamlet’s keenness, in conjunction with the ‎metaphor of the wings which are a faster means of transport than feet. It is...